The course will be open to inmates whose youngsters are now under the supervision of Children and Youth, some in foster care.

The aim is to help parents and children adjust to each other. Roger Bulava of the prison's treatment department pointed out that "foster care has met with only limited success" and the course may permit former inmates to establish normal family lives.

Commission member Arnold Kowitz asked, "How does one teach parenting when the parents and children aren't together?"

Director of treatment James Onembo said the course will be based on "role modeling."

"We're encouraged," he added. "Children and Youth will work not only with the children now, but with the parents."

Deputy Warden Robert Olander reported that the population of the jail reached an all-time high of 304 last week. About 35 prisoners have arrived each day during 1985, during a period when "about a quarter of the prison has been shut down for construction," he said.

New windows and electronically operated sliding doors have been installed in most of the cells in the flats and tier areas, in the oldest section of the prison. The inmates have repainted the cells, and bids will be received within the next few weeks for the next step in the renovation program, an extension of the building to house the women's and behavioral wings, Warden A.S. DiGiacinto said.

The commission agreed to ask County Council to approve an additional medical staff member, a nurse to work the 3-11 p.m. shift. The post will pay $15,622 to $20,001, Olander said. The medical staff now consists of the prison physician and a physician's assistant, and both the "very high prison population" and state regulations require more medical help at the jail, commission member Sheila LaFrankie said.

Onembo told the board that the Easton Area School District is furnishing teachers for classes during the day and evening to help inmates attain high school equivalency certificates.

He said Susan Sussman, a social worker at Annandale State Prison in New Jersey, is directing a therapy group for those on "psychotropic medication" - tranquilizers - "and in need of additional attention."

Roslyn Fendrick of the Female Offender Program in Allentown is meeting regularly with female inmates to develop their ability to find jobs after they leave prison, and "five or six" people will take part in a series of "mini- loop" classes dealing with budgeting, personal hygiene, role clarification and sex education, Onembo said.